http://mmajunkie.comSACRAMENTO, Calif. – All too often, top professional athletes surround themselves in a veil of cliches, answering questions with the expected recourse, devoid of any honesty or character.

WEC featherweight champ Mike Brown (22-4 MMA, 4-0 WEC) could have fallen into that trap after his WEC 41 win over fan favorite Urijah Faber on Sunday in Sacramento, Calif. But he didn’t.

“These guys, I see them,” Brown said at Sunday’s post-event press conference. “They’re staring right at me. They’re calling me a [homosexual slur] and stuff, you know? It’s not easy what we do.”

A less-honest man would say the challenge of fighting in hostile territory is irrelevant. The generally accepted generic answer goes, “Once the cage door closes, all I see is my opponent. I can’t hear the crowd when I’m fighting. I just hear my coaches’ instructions, and I focus on the task in front of me.”

Brown’s honest answer differed, and he admitted that the 13,000-plus vocal supporters of Faber that filled ARCO Arena were a bit intimidating.

“It just keeps coming and coming and coming,” Brown said. “It’s not easy to walk out there and put it all on the line like that. We fight for pride, for money. Our health is on the line. There’s a lot on the line.

“People are staring at you and calling you names. I just wish I could switch places with them for a minute and make them walk down the stage because it’s not easy. I was just kind of saying, ‘Alright, I love you, too.’ But it’s not easy what we do.”

Brown said he tried to remember the advice that MMA legend and WEC 41 competitor Jens Pulver – who also faced Faber at ARCO Arena in a failed attempt to dethrone “The California Kid” – gave him prior to the bout.

“Sometimes I feel a little disrespected because I don’t talk smack or anything like that,” Brown said. “[The crowd] was booing me so bad like I did something horrible to their mom or something. But it’s good as long as they’re interested.

“Jens, before the fight he told me as long as they’re making noise, it’s a good thing. He said if you hear crickets chirping, that’s bad. I listened to that, and it made sense to me. As long as they care about that fight, I guess that’s what matters.”

Brown was later asked if he felt Sunday’s 25-minute win validated his current seven-month reign as title-holder. After all, many MMA fans and media felt his first win over Faber was due to a “lucky punch.”

While hundreds of fighters and thousands of athletes before him have deflected similar questions by suggesting they “make it a point to not read what’s out there,” Brown suggested his fight should have silenced his critics.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever been five rounds, so that’s a notch on the belt,” Brown said. “I’m happy that I did that at least once in my career.

“I don’t want to make a habit of going five (rounds), but it’s nice to know that I have done it before. It did solidify me as the champ, and I don’t know how people can say it’s a fluke still. I hope they’re still not saying that.”

Brown admitted that Faber’s broken right hand, suffered early in the contest, certainly affected the course of the fight. But the American Top Team product suggested his constant pressure on the challenger won the bout, not any missing weapons in Faber’s arsenal.

And while the vocal detractors sometimes upset the champ, Brown knows those that are most important to him have full faith in him as the legitimate champion.

“People are always going to doubt you and question you and stuff, but I think [the win] gained me some (respect),” Brown said. “But rankings and all that jazz is just opinions.

“My family and my teammates believed in me. I had the WEC belt, which that’s the No. 1 spot. That’s all that matters. Whoever has that belt is the champ, and I have that belt, so I’m happy with that.”

And while much of the world considers Brown, along with his WEC title and 10 consecutive wins, the best featherweight in the world, Brown refuses to speculate on what further rewards may lie in the future.

“I never imagined this was going to happen,” Brown said. “I was fighting for fun because I loved it. I never imagined that this many people would care or that I could make a living doing what I love.

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